CEREAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE NEPHI SUBSTATION. 5 



That at Nephi is very deep and is mostly reddish brown in color. 

 The upper 3 or 4 feet of soil are composed of clay loam, containing 

 about 15 per cent of clay. This relatively high percentage of clay 

 makes the soil rather difficult to handle in either wet or extremely dry 

 weather. The second and third feet of soil contain a noticeable but 

 scattered amount of gypsum which has been washed from the 

 extensive deposits found on the mountains to the east. The fifth, 

 sixth, and seventh feet contain a larger percentage of fine sand and 

 silt, with occasional pockets of gravel. From the eighth to the tenth 

 foot there is a stratum of rather heavy blue clay, which usually has a 

 comparatively high moisture content. The root system of a winter- 

 wheat plant which was washed out in 1910 was found to terminate 



Fig. 4.— View of a portion of the Juab Valley near the Nephi substation, showing characteristic vege- 

 tation, mostly sagebrush. 



in this blue stratum. That this would be the case generally can be 

 only assumed. Below the blue stratum the soil alternates between 

 a clay and a sandy loam to great depths. Figure 3 shows the 

 different strata of soil as they appear in a deep gulch near the 

 station farm. 



NATIVE VEGETATION. 



According to old settlers of that section, the Levan Ridge was 

 covered with "bluegrass" (Agropyron sp.) as late as 50 years ago. 

 At that time the grass was sometimes cut for hay. Later, sheep 

 grazed the ridge heavily and plants not good for forage soon began 



